A Zambian economist has called on the government to intervene to bring down the high fuel prices as the country would fail to reach the projected growth in gross domestic product (GDP) if fuel prices continued rising, according to Wednesday's Zambia Daily Mail.

Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) national secretary Chibamba Kanyama said industry had anticipated a GDP growth of about six percent this year but this may not be achieved with the current upward fluctuations in the prices of fuel.

"The price of fuel has gone up quite significantly in the last three months and this should be worrying to industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and mining," Kanyama was quoted as saying.

He explained that stability in macroeconomic variables such as inflation and interest rates had encouraged industry to produce more but this could be reversed by the continuous rise in fuel prices.

Kanyama said the only way to effectively stabilize the prices of fuel in Zambia was for the government to intervene through subsidies.

Source: Xinhua